So indulge me for a moment or two. The summer Olympic games have got me a little homesick for London. Again.

I know, I know. You might be thinking, “Been there; done that”. Yes – During the “Queen’s Jubilee” I did a post entitled “big ben”. And, yes; Big Ben is in London. But you have to understand that this was a special time in our lives. Veryspecial. Two years and a lot of memories. So you were thinking just one blog post would cover it? Oh, gracious me. I think not.

So I begin with the reminder that we had only been married for two short years. We were moving away from friends, family and familiarity. We were entering the unknown… just the two of us. A team. We brought very little with us. Found a furnished “flat” (apartment) to live in; filled with someone else’s “stuff” – dishes, furniture, bedding… and started making our memories.

We lived a “hop, skip and a jump” (walking distance) from The Victoria & Albert Museuem, The Natural History Museum, Hyde Park and Kensington Palace/Gardens (where Prince Charles & Princess Diana lived.) Used to do my morning walks in the gardens surrounding Kensington Palace. Never once, however, did I see Princess Diana in her bathrobe out picking up the morning paper. Hmmm… Go figure.

The truth is, and the point of this blog is that the two of us learned how to survive, day-to-day, alone together, as a couple. When you only have each other – it is such an incredible bonding experience. We were there for each other during the sad and lonely times; when something would happen back home and suddenly we felt like we were painfully separated and distant from those we loved… because we were. But we focused on the fact that we had each other; and we got through it. We shared all of the adventures, the “kodak moments”… the experiences that formed treasured memories for the rest of our lives. We made wonderful friends, traveled to incredible locations and lived every single day with gratitude for the many gifts that we had been given. What we didn’t realize, at the time, was that the true gifts weren’t palaces, princesses or exotic destinations. The true gift was the strong bond that formed between us over those two years that gave our fresh new marriage a solid foundation on which to move forward. Through thick & thin; sun & rain. Twenty eight years of marriage (so far!) and we’re still going strong. I am grateful. Always.